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Blackwater Elite 83
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San Miguel Beermen 93
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San Miguel fends off Blackwater

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San Miguel Beer struggled through the first three quarters before getting its act together, fending off the fierce-fighting Blackwater side, 93-83, to move up to joint second with Alaska Milk in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig Wednesday night.

Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos, Ronald Tubid and Junmar Fajardo stabilized their game in the payoff period, enabling the Beermen to bounce back from a loss to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters the last time out and in the process catch up with the Aces at second place at 3-1.

The Elite crashed back to earth after breaking into the win-column versus the Meralco Bolts five days ago. They slid to 1-3 in the team standings.

“I expected a tough battle against Blackwater since they have a decent lineup and they’re coming off that morale-boosting win over Meralco,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria. “Good thing, the guys picked up some rhythm in the fourth quarter.”

Fajardo came through with yet another double-double game with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Marcio Lassiter went a rebound short of what could have been his own double-double performance.

Lassiter fired four triples and also finished with 20 markers while Cabagnot added 15 markers, four rebounds and the same number of assists.

John Paul Erram delivered a career high 23 points for the losing side.

The Elite used a better field-goal shooting to offset the Beermen’s domination off the boards as the two teams fought to a 44-all deadlock at the half.

Bam Gamalinda went 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the stripe for nine points while Carlo Lastimosa also went perfect with a 4-of-4 clip as the Elite rallied from nine points down to catch up just before the first half ended.

Arthur dela Cruz converted a jumper atop the key to tie the count at 44 with time down to 30 seconds.

SMB seized the early initiative and led by nine at 30-21 on a catch-and-shoot trey by Mario Lassiter at the outset of the second period.

The Beermen lost the momentum and blew away that gap as they struggled with an 8-of-23 shooting in the second quarter.

The Elite converted 51-percent of their shots in the first 24 minutes of play as against the Beermen’s 43-percent marksmanship.

Blackwater trailed by two at the end of the third as Lastimosa muffed three charities then Gamalinda missed a layup in the closing seconds.

The scores:

SAN MIGUEL 93 – Fajardo 20, Lassiter 20, Cabagnot 15, Santos 10, Tubid 9, Espinas 8, Reyes 3, Arana 2, De Ocampo 2, Heruela 2, Lutz 2, Ross 0.

BLACKWATER 83 – Erram 23, Cortez 15, Gamalinda 14, Lastimosa 14, Dela Cruz 4, Sena 4, Canada 2, Cervantes 2, Reyes 2, Vosotros 2, Melano 1, Agovida 0, Ballesteros 0.

Quarters: 24-19, 44-44, 72-70, 93-83

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